Gavina couldn’t help but smile. The old woman painted a dark picture of her grandsons, and Gavina knew she should heed the old woman’s warning. Nairnie was right. Gavina needed to stay away from these men, especially after the way she’d felt being so close to the pirate named Tristan.
Tristan grinned as he watched Nairnie hauling the girl to the galley that was really just a small enclosure at the bow of the ship where his cook prepared the meals. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with Gavina. The wisest thing would be to let her go, but he couldn’t do that. Something told him she knew more about Birk’s treasure map than she was letting on. Resting his hand on her pear-shaped bottom earlier as he’d helped her climb the ladder had almost been his undoing. Even dressed like a boy and with that chopped off hair, she didn’t fool him . . . not anymore. He was sure she was the daughter of the dead gambler. Her name was Gavina Drummond. The only thing he couldn’t figure out is why she was disguised as a boy. He also wondered how long it would be before his crew figured out she was a woman. He’d have to keep a close eye on her for her own safety.
“Why’d you let the boy go with Nairnie?” griped Aaron. “I have work for him to do.”
“Aye, he needs to pitch in if he’s going to be a part of this crew,” complained Mardon.
“Oh, I’m not worried about him being part of the crew.” Tristan’s eyes stayed fastened to Gavina’s back end as she and Nairnie entered the galley. How could he have missed that slight sway of her hips or the way she walked with her legs close together? Her features were dainty, and her bone structure thin. Her shoulders were narrow, too. When he’d seen her bare foot, he’d almost thought it looked regal. He let out a frustrated breath because she was getting him aroused and she was still disguised as a blasted boy. That didn’t make him feel good at all. He needed to maintain control of his emotions. It had never been a problem before, so what was it with this girl that was rattling his nerves?
“What do you mean, you’re not worried about him being a part of the crew?” asked Aaron.
“Aye, that doesn’t make any sense,” said Mardon. “Tell us, why did you even bring him here at all? You’ve got Ramble to fill the position of cabin boy. You don’t need another servant,” Mardon pointed out. “Not to mention, we’ve done fine without that obnoxious music of our last drunken musician. I just don’t see the point. Especially since you’ve already offered him part of our booty.”
“I think he knows more about the treasure map than he’s letting on,” Tristan revealed his thoughts to his brothers.
“Birk burned the map,” Aaron reminded him. “I saw it with my own eyes, smoldering on the hearth.”
The wind picked up, blowing Tristan’s hair. He pulled it back in a queue, tying it with a small strip of leather he wore around his wrist. “Mayhap he did burn it, but we all know Birk couldn’t remember his name if someone didn’t call him by it once in a while. The man was a swindler, and not the sharpest blade in the weapon belt.”
“True, but he did manage to find Father’s hidden treasure map,” Mardon pointed out. “That is something that even we couldn’t do.”
“Aye, I thought that map was gone forever,” agreed Aaron.
“He didn’t find the map, he stole it,” Tristan said. “That’s different.”
“Do you really think Birk made a copy of the map and was trying to trick us?” Aaron walked over to the laundry, testing his headscarf with his fingers, seeing it was no longer wet. He ripped it down from the line and wrapped it around his head.
“That’s exactly what I think.” Tristan turned and headed up the stairs to the sterncastle, leaving his brothers standing there contemplating the thought.
“Come on, Mardon, let’s go rough up the boy and shake him down until we find the copy of that map,” he heard Aaron say from behind him.
“Aye, he must have it,” Mardon answered.
“Nay!” Tristan shouted from the top of the stairs, turning and taking them two at a time, making his way back to his brothers. “He’s already been searched. The boy doesn’t have it. Leave him alone.”
“Then we’ll get him to tell us where it is if we have to keelhaul him to do it.” Aaron put his hand around his throat and made a drowning noise, laughing. To keelhaul someone meant to tie a rope around a person for punishment. They were dropped over one side of the ship and pulled under the keel, brought up on the other side. It was a horrific experience, since the man usually got cut on the barnacles on the hull, and sometimes they even drowned before they got to the surface.
“Aye, we haven’t had a good keelhaul in a while now,” agreed Mardon with a nod.
“If either of you so much as touch Gavin, I’ll have your heads,” Tristan ground out. “I told you I will find out what we need to know. Now, leave it to me. Savvy?”
“Why the hell are you acting so strange?” groaned Mardon. “What’s gotten into you, Tristan?”
“My only concern is that we find that treasure.” Tristan tried to calm down. It wasn’t usually like him to lose control of his emotions. But talk about keelhauling Gavina was more than he could take. “Our hold is half-empty and the crew is getting restless. We need coins and gold and clothes and food. Enough to last us for months in case we don’t get the opportunity to board another ship for a while.”
“Bring the boy along on our next raid,” stated Mardon. “That will break him in quickly.”
“Aye. I’ll work with him, showing him how to pick a pocket.” Aaron smiled and plucked the rest of his clean clothes from the line. “Gavin can accompany Ramble using sleight of hand. The boy’s small so should be good at it.”
“Nay, I said.” Tristan angrily yanked the clean clothes out of Aaron’s hands and threw them down on the deck.
“Nairnie’s not going to like that,” said Aaron, making a face at his clothes now lying on the dirty deck.
“Forget about it,” snapped Tristan. “The lad is not like most men. I don’t want you two scaring him off. If so, we’ll never find out the whereabouts of that treasure.”
“I sure hope you’re right about this,” said Mardon, scratching behind his ear. “With that treasure, we’ll be rich and will rule the sea.”
“I’m taking us south,” announced Tristan.
“South?” Aaron made a face. “Are we leaving the North Sea and sailing through the channel? I don’t understand.”
“That’s the direction the Desperado headed,” said Mardon. “We’re going after our sister, aren’t we?”
“Nay,” said Tristan. “I don’t care about that. It’s better if Gwen never finds us. After all, you see how Nairnie is acting. You know Gwen will never accept us being pirates either. Hearing one woman complain about it is already more than I want to listen to. We need to focus on finding that treasure.”
“Well I, for one, wouldn’t mind seeing Gwen again,” remarked Aaron. “It’s been such a long time and I kind of miss our little sister.”
“I suppose we could take Nairnie home and get her off the ship. That should make you happy, Tristan.” Mardon crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Tristan’s answer.
“It might be nice to see Cornwall again,” mumbled Tristan, starting to feel a little homesick as well. “Not to mention, I could go for an ale and a bucket of clams at the Three Gulls right now.”
“Then it’s settled. We’re going to Cornwall!” Aaron smiled, as if he thought he’d won the argument but he hadn’t.
Tristan held his hand up to get his brothers’ attention. “I’m not finished. While I said that I’ll think about returning to Cornwall, we can’t. Or have you two forgot our agreement?”
“We promised to stay on this side of Britain, but it no longer matters,” said Mardon. “That agreement was made with Rowen the Restless. And unless you haven’t been listening, Nairnie said Rowen is no longer a pirate. Therefore, there is no longer an agreement to honor.”
“What is the matter with you two?” asked Tristan, thinking that Nairnie had shake
n them up and they were making bad decisions. “Did you forget when we left the fishing boat, we made a life choice that can’t be reversed? We’re pirates now, and that is what we’ll always be. No one in Cornwall who knew us as fishermen will accept us. Neither will Gwen. There is no point in going back after the things we’ve done.”
“Mayhap you’re right,” said Aaron, his smile disappearing quickly.
“I know it hasn’t always been easy, but we are richer and have so much more than we ever had as fishermen,” Tristan reminded them. “The opportunities now are boundless where, before, we struggled just to survive another day. Do you two want to go back to that way of life?”
“Nay,” said Mardon, hanging his head.
“Me, either,” agreed Aaron, bending down and picking up his clothes.
Tristan continued. “If Father would have stayed a pirate the first time, instead of going back to being a fisherman, we’d be unstoppable and rule the seas by now. All we need is this treasure and we’ll be set, able to live like kings. After all, the treasure once belonged to a king.”
“You’re right,” said Mardon, sounding much more confidant now. “Gwen is no longer our concern. Nairnie tells us she’s married with a family and that she is happy. All we’ll do is make her miserable if we return. Like you said, she’ll only want to change us.”
“Right,” agreed Aaron, shaking the dirt off of one of his tunics. “Our sister saw our ship and turned around so she must not want to find us after all. Besides, now we’ve got Grandmother, so it’s not like we’ve lost our entire family.”
Tristan shook his head, hating it when Aaron called the old woman Grandmother. It made them look weak in front of the rest of the men. “Put those clothes down,” complained Tristan, taking them from Aaron’s hands and tossing them back down to the deck. “Aaron, you need to stop calling the old wench Grandmother. Call her Nairnie if you want, but never Grandmother. It’ll only make you weak in the crews’ eyes. Both of you, stand firm with who we are and what we do. Don’t ever let anyone convince you otherwise. And for God’s sake, whatever you do, don’t ever let a wench try to change you. There is no coming back from a tragedy like that!”
Chapter 4
“Did my grandsons hurt ye?” asked the old woman named Nairnie as soon as Gavina entered the small enclosure and closed the hanging curtain that served as a door.
“Nay, I’m fine,” she said, looking around. “So, is this where ye cook the meals for the pirates?”
“It is,” she said, clearing off a board that served as a counter. “But I’d prefer if ye didna call them pirates.”
“Well, that’s what they are.” She sat down on a wooden box, inspecting a silver spoon that was resting on a gold-plated platter filled with crumbs that looked to be left over from a meal. “After all, these men would never have dishes and utensils like this unless they stole them from a wealthy noble.” She held up the spoon to prove her point.
“Harumph,” said Nairnie with a puff of air from her mouth. She snatched the spoon away from her. “Mayhap so, but Tristan, Mardon and Aaron are still my grandsons. I swear I will reform them if it’s the last thing I do – even if I have to die tryin’.”
“I see,” said Gavina, noticing the pain on Nairnie’s face. “This must be hard for ye. Were yer grandsons always so . . . troublesome? Even when they were just boys?”
“I dinna ken.” She became suddenly quiet as she reached into a barrel and pulled out a few apples, laying them atop the cutting board. “I didna even ken they existed until a few years ago.” She picked up a knife and started to sharpen it against a stone.
“Why no’?” asked Gavina. “Did somethin’ happen that took them away from ye?”
“Ye could say that.” She slammed down the stone and furiously started slicing the apples. “I had a son named Cato. He was taken from me when he was just a lad by the man who sired him. I never saw him again.”
“Och, I’m sorry,” said Gavina, realizing how hard that must be for the old woman to bear that pain.
“Then, no’ long ago, it was brought to my attention that Cato had died and left behind a daughter named Gwendolen, and I was able to meet her. When I saw my son’s grave, I cried. Then I became angry when I found out he was once a pirate and that I had three grandsons that turned to piracy as well. Gwen wanted to find her brathairs, and so we convinced her husband, Brody, to take us along to look for them. Then I fell overboard in a storm. Thankfully, my grandsons didna leave me to die, but fished me out of the sea instead. Now, I’m here.” She scooped up the apples and dropped them into a wooden bowl and handed it to Gavina. “Here, ye must be hungry. Eat.”
“Thank ye,” she said, eagerly taking a slice of apple since lately she was always hungry. She and her father didn’t have enough money to buy much food. “Was their sister, Gwen, really tryin’ to find them?”
“She was.” Nairnie put down the knife and slowly sat down on a stool. “Gwen wanted more than anythin’ to be reunited with her brathairs. And I wanted to see my grandsons before I died.”
“Did Gwen and Brody try to save ye when ye fell overboard?” Gavina shoved another piece of apple into her mouth.
“I’m no’ sure,” she said. She tried to hide it but Gavina saw her quickly wipe a tear from her eye. “They probably thought the sea claimed me and that’s why they turned around. I canna blame them. Brody has Gwen and his four children to think of, and they are more important than an auld woman like me.”
Gavina’s heart went out to her. “Well, at least yer grandsons saved ye.”
“Aye.” She let out another sigh and stood up. Since she was short, her head didn’t hit the underside of the forecastle above her head. “At least there is that, even though I’m no’ sure they shouldna have left me to be claimed by the sea.” She fished another apple out of a barrel and inspected it closely, holding it up to let Gavina see she found a worm in it. “It’s such a disappointment that my grandsons are all rotten to the core.” She tossed the wormy apple to the side. “I’m afraid they’ll never be anythin’ but bad.”
“Dinna say that.” Gavina slowly put down the slice of apple. “My mathair used to say that there is guid in everyone, but sometimes ye just need to look deeper to find it.”
“Really.” Nairnie looked at her as if she were mad. “How did yer mathair die?”
“She . . . she was killed in a raid by an evil English lord who ended up also killin’ my older brathair.”
“Need I say more? No’ everyone has guid in them, I’m afraid to say. I learned that a long time ago when my son was taken from me. The worst of the lot is pirates.”
“Well . . . mayhap no’ all pirates are . . . bad.” She heard the words coming from her mouth but wasn’t even sure why she was saying this. Mayhap it was just to comfort Nairnie.
“My grandsons took ye captive, so that should prove there is no’ guid in them like ye seem to think.”
“I suppose ye’re right,” she said sadly, wishing that Nairnie was wrong. But the evidence only proved that she wasn’t. Gavina picked up her flute, running her hand over it in thought.
“Can ye really play that thing?” Nairnie looked over her shoulder as she cleaned off the piece of wood that served as her counter.
“Aye,” she answered. “My brathair, Liam, made this for me when I was just a child. We were always close. I treasured it and learned to play it. The music has always been able to calm my weary mind.”
“Then mayhap ye’d better play it for me, lass. After all, my mind could use some calmin’ about now.”
“Of course. I’d be glad to.” She lifted the flute to her mouth but stopped when she noticed Nairnie smiling at her. Suddenly, she realized that the old woman had called her lass, and she hadn’t corrected her. Gavina had been so caught up in her thoughts that she made a crucial mistake. “How did ye ken?” she asked softly.
“How could I no’ ken? I’m a woman and it’s as plain to me as the nose on yer face that ye are no laddie, but a
lassie.”
“Yer grandsons think I am a lad. So do the other pirates.”
“Well, dinna expect that to last. They’ll sniff ye out sooner or later as if ye were a bitch in heat. Mark my words, ye willna be able to fool them long.”
“I hope ye’re wrong,” she told her.
Nairnie reached out and touched Gavina’s chopped hair. “Who did this to ye, lass? Tell me, why are ye pretendin’ to be a lad?”
“It was Birk – a swindler from the tavern who did this to me. He – he told me it would save my life. From bein’ ravished by pirates. He and his men kent that yer grandsons and their crew would be upon them and – and he did it to protect me. He said if they kent I was a lass, I’d end up as the ship’s whore.”
“He did, did he? How odd,” she said in a tone that said she didn’t quite believe her. “Was this Birk a friend of yers?”
“Friend?” she gasped. “Nay! I hate the man. He killed my faither.”
“Yet, ye let him do this to ye because he . . . just wanted to protect ye?”
“Aye,” she said, looking down and playing with her flute, realizing how silly this must all sound. If she told Nairnie about the map it would all make perfect sense to her. But Gavina couldn’t bring herself to do that. Not yet. Nairnie was the grandmother of the pirates that abducted her, and she wasn’t really sure if she could trust her or not.
“Did Birk rape ye, lass?”
“What?” Her head snapped upward. “Nay! He didna touch me . . . no’ like that. I’m still a virgin.”
“I see.” She started cleaning up some dirty plates, putting them into a big bucket of water. “I’ve never kent a man to go to such extremes to protect a woman who hates him. That is, unless there was somethin’ in it for him. So, what was it?”
Tristan (Pirate Lords Series Book 1) Page 8